Thought Catalog founder and publisher Chris Lavergne talks about his ongoing media experiment, and how the site's evolution is not so different from media enterprises that are more staunchly journalistic in nature. (Scroll down for interview.)

When you talk to Chris Lavergne, the founder and publisher of Thought Catalog, a website known for its hyperpersonal and often controversial essays, you immediately realize that his demeanor is the antithesis to the stories that he publishes.

Calm and direct, Lavergne expends no energy gushing about himself -- a point that's counter to the confessional nature of much of Thought Catalog's content. In fact, Lavergne's doggedly private as it pertains to even basic personal details, like his age. But when talk turns to advertising and the nuances of online publishing, subjects that Lavergne is well-versed in from his time as a media consultant at a Wall Street-based firm, a noticeable level of excitement enters his voice -- and understandably so.

Since Thought Catalog launched in February of 2010, the site's readership has grown substantially, now attracting approximately 2 million unique visitors and 10 million pageviews each month. Thanks to the revenue generated by online advertising, Lavergne was able to quit his job as a media consultant last year to focus full time on his work as the site's publisher. He also hired three full-time employees, Ryan O'Connell, Brandon Scott Gorrell, and Stephanie Georgopulos, writers who have played a major role in shaping the editorial voice of the site. O'Connell, Gorrell, and Georgopulos also oversee submissions from a freelancer base that now numbers in the hundreds. (Disclosure: As a freelance writer, I've contributed to Thought Catalog in the past.)

For Thought Catalog's readers and its devoted (and often contentious) community of commenters, much of the site's appeal lies in the notion of shared experiences and culture-based sentimentality. Nostalgia, for instance, is a recurring thread in many of the articles published on the site; so too is bluntly simplified, highly emotionalized life advice. Whether focused on the euphoria of firsts (i.e., first kiss, first broken heart, first mammogram, etc.) or its infinite scroll of how-to articles that dissect happiness, solitude, or life in your twenties, Thought Catalog's primary currency is memoir-like voyeurism. Considering the site's focus on such stories, it may come as no surprise that millennials are a key demographic. Or, as a recent ComScore report surmises, Thought Catalog's readership is firmly middle class and rather evenly split between men and women ages 25 to 34 (with a slight majority edge toward women). In other words, young readers with money to spend and time to burn.

No success comes without a certain volume of critique, however. In Thought Catalog's case, detractors often lament the navel-gazing nature of the site's content (and those detractors are, more often than not, fellow writers).

This past October, for example, Gawker's Hamilton Nolan took issue with a piece written by Ryan O'Connell titled "The One Thing I Won't Write About." Nolan was in disbelief that O'Connell, an author who recently wrote about having his genitals waxed, had spent hundreds of words writing a post that essentially kept a single detail of his life private, a point that left the Gawkerite feeling rather morose: "Again, I won't argue that narcissism and a garish lack of self awareness is anything new among writers; I'm just arguing that if I keep reading posts on Thought Catalog, I am probably going to hurl myself in front of an oncoming subway train in despair sometime this winter." (In fact, Gawker has turned reporting on Thought Catalog into a micro project of sorts.) Other critics, while avoiding threats of personal harm, have opted instead for parody as The Awl did in its "Millennial Internet Writer Gets Coffee" piece, which mimicked the tone and tenor of an average Thought Catalog story.

While peer-driven critiques have become a reality of doing business in the overpopulated ranks of Blogland (and its mind-melting echo chamber), being lambasted by established websites seems to have done little to deter Lavergne and his writing staff, or slow Thought Catalog's momentum. To understand how the site has fared during its growth spurt, I contacted Lavergne several months back and began a discussion. We talked by email and by phone. Included below are the most salient points.

Matthew Newton: With the traditional journalism model in perpetual upheaval, and brand-influenced content a pervasive and creeping reality, Thought Catalog seems to exist in a strange and sometimes controversial limbo between the two. Does the site have any guiding principles, or is that part still a work-in-progress?

Chris Lavergne: This is a layered question and I’m only going to be able to scratch the surface. On the most basic level, we are an experimental media website dedicated to providing great content. What defines “great content” is and probably always will be an open question and work-in-progress, but right now one of the things we are consistently striving for is to find a balance between commercial success and quality work. The two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, but there is definitely a tension. What is happening now with Buzzfeed is a perfect example of this gray area. Here you have a site steeped in viral, user-generated content now attempting to complement it with real reporting. Getting this balance right might be the new paradigm.

We also have if not guiding principles then certainly preoccupations. Getting our design and technology right is definitely at the top of the list. And we strive to be very writer centric.

Matthew Newton: If media’s new paradigm includes running LOL cat videos alongside reports from the campaign trail, where does that leave old guard media institutions?

Chris Lavergne: Let's not deceive ourselves. The old media giants still have most of the power. Buzzfeed, for example, just got a nice chunk of funding from the Hearst Corporation. Even Thought Catalog, while fully independent, is only made possible through advertising partnerships we have made either directly or indirectly with major media companies. The old guard is fine and if they aren't: what is falling in this case might just deserve a final push.

Matthew Newton: Given the site’s focus on its writers, Thought Catalog’s model is reminiscent of entrepreneurial journalism, or the idea of the writer as his or her own marketable brand. Is that a philosophy you buy into?

Chris Lavergne: Yes, for the most part. That’s why we give every contributor on Thought Catalog a profile page and we plan in the future to extend the features available here.

Matthew Newton: As the site grows, has the tension between “commercial success and quality work” become more pronounced?

Chris Lavergne: Not really. Maybe less pronounced if anything. When you don’t have to worry about going out of business, you have more time to focus on doing awesome things.

Matthew Newton: Do you view the stories that Thought Catalog publishes as journalism?

Chris Lavergne: I don’t look at it on that granular of a level usually. I consider the project as a whole journalistic in some sense but this is just one aspect of it and perhaps at that a latent one. At this point, we are probably more of an entertainment website, yet even this seems to bleed into a certain kind of cultural journalism. Is reading about someone’s difficulty overcoming alcoholism or particular tale of heartbreak news? Maybe not. But then again: why not? It’s not just the regurgitation of a press release. It’s a raw document of something happening in the world. It gives us perspective on life in some way. And perhaps even articulates a certain segment of a zeitgeist.

Matthew Newton: What issues or contemporary aspects of culture do you think the site articulates particularly well?

Chris Lavergne: Perhaps life in the digital age, but it runs the gamut.

Matthew Newton: Thought Catalog’s editorial perspective has shifted since the site’s inception in February of 2010 – from a mix of critical and personal essays, to more of a focus on the latter. Was that a conscious editorial decision, or has the shift been more of a natural progression?

Chris Lavergne: It’s both conscious and natural. Change will always be a constant at Thought Catalog.

Matthew Newton: The site has a strong readership, but it also has its fair share of critics. Do you care about what the site’s critics have to say?

Chris Lavergne: Fans and critics are part and parcel. You can’t have one without the other. Remove the critics and you remove the fans, it’s all necessarily bounded together.

Chris Lavergne: We are in the process of overhauling the site from the ground up. You’re going see everything change from invisible things like the technical infrastructure, to concrete things like the visual design and editorial. We’re striving to become one of the best content websites out there and because everyone involved with Thought Catalog is so talented, so dedicated we might just pull it off.

Matthew Newton: When you talk about Thought Catalog’s growth, sites like Gawker and Vice come to mind as similar examples of what you’re trying to build. Is that fair, or do you see a different trajectory for the site?

Chris Lavergne: By default, sure. But Thought Catalog is still very much in the shadow of Gawker and Vice.

Matthew Newton: Unlike so many sites that are part of larger media networks, Thought Catalog is independent. Do you plan to remain independent?

Chris Lavergne: There will always be political forces at play and they are critical in any operation but that stuff, at the end of the day, is just business and not what matters most to us. To riff off Shane Smith, all we care about is building a great culture and producing great media.

Matthew Newton: If remaining independent is a matter you’re not too concerned about, does that mean Thought Catalog will eventually be placed on the auction block for the highest bidder?

Chris Lavergne: What? Absolutely not. Money is necessary and great. But doing what you love, creating and the thing created, that's ultimately far more important than the amount of zeroes in your bank account.

I'm a writer, editor, and journalist. I write about the intersection of visual culture, mass media, and the commercialization (and exploitation) of culture. My work has been published by Esquire, Spin, Good, and ColorLines, among other print and digital publications...